Add to the discussion

The initial conversation addresses some of the questions that are used to analyze a primary source, but not all. With your teacher’s guidance, please record your insights on the following, and submit them to the site for publication:

• Why was this story told as a movie in 1974 and not a television show?

• Director Mel Brooks’s first movie was The Producers. Combined with Blazing Saddles what kind of status did this achieve for him by the early 70s?

• This film has been controversial since it was released for its frank depiction of racism. What does this tell us about American society in the early 1970s?

• Who was the intended audience(s) of this movie?